Betty Hsu is a co-founder of online vocabulary improvement company ProfessorWord. Benjamin Levy, a former teacher, is founder of video delivery platform eduCanon. Will Morris is the CEO of teacher-coaching company EdConnective. All three authors are striving to launch and sustain successful ed-tech startups.

Ed-tech startup journeys take time. You can spend months (really, years) working on something, and ultimately, have it not work out. That's just part of the risk that comes with ed-tech entrepreneurship. It can be difficult to continue persevering when things aren't working out quite the way you had hoped, but sometimes, persistence does really pay off. Sal describes how he was turned down by funder after funder until he was about to give up, when he suddenly received an investment out of the blue that completely transformed his startup journey.

2. The Power of Connection

When it comes to teaching and learning, there's nothing more important (I think!) than the connection that exists between a teacher and a student. Sal talks about how his life was transformed by a few wonderful teachers who really listened to him and encouraged him to pursue his passions. As ed-tech entrepreneurs, we need to keep this connection at the heart of our design work, because the objective when developing any new technology tool or product should be to help facilitate and support this core connection between teachers and students.

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